Typography and Objects
Art Director Jin Dallae & Park Woohyuk
‘Typojanchi 2019, Typography and Objects’ is about some ways of gathering letters and objects.
This is about typography which involves objects, letters that adopt the forms of objects, one object and typography, diverse stories on objects and typography, the object which is related to typography, and the common point between objects and typography endlessly circulates without a start or end.
Most letters create numerous words by combining some symbols. The same principle applies to typography, which requires letters as the main material. Typography is an action to create a rule by dividing, sorting, combining, and composing. What is the principle of the object? As the principle of the universe, human culture and history have been in the process of finding rules from chaos. Most of the objects in our culture were created by the rules of the combination according to the human mind and the cosmic law resonating with each other. The Concrete, such as architecture and machinery, and the Abstract, like mathematics and music, are all created according to the rules of the combination.
Letters are the symbolized form of the objects, and at the same time, it can be seen as the objects themselves. Letters are also the most striking material about the rules of the combination. We are trying to look at the relationship between letters and objects as a clue to decomposition and assembly, the core of typography.
Originally, typography was a way to use letters. However, when focusing on its action, typography can be rediscovered as objects. This is because today’s typography is no longer judged by the use of letters. Whereas letters used to be considered the only ingredient, typography now includes pictures, photographs, symbols, movements, sounds, and almost anything else.
‘Typojanchi 2019, Typography and Object’ consists of six subcategories: Kaleidoscopes, Polyhedrons, Clocks, Corners, Sundries, and Plants. The six titles, which seem difficult to relate to each other, refer to the names of things that symbolize the way typography meets the objects.

Kaleidoscopes:   breaking down and structuring the object typography
The coloured scraps in the kaleidoscopes make different patterns as they move. Typography also creates a variety of shapes by arranging alphabets such as ㄱ,ㄴ,ㄷ or a,b,c. Typographic combination can invent various forms such as elements of dots, lines, and surfaces becoming geometries, toy blocks becoming structures, and zero to nine becoming all existing numbers. The ‘Kaleidoscopes’ searches for typography involving objects such as figures, materials, animals, plants, sounds, and movements, rather than just letters.

Polyhedrons:   letters that borrow the shapes of objects
The exhibition displays the various expressions of letters, such as water-drops, mist, and glossiness. It observes the process of letters transforming into concrete objects and the outcomes of the transformation. It also introduces various letters that reflect the forms, dimensions, status, structure, and properties of objects.

Clocks:   one object and typography
A clock is a device that divides and assembles time into seconds, minutes, and hours. A clock is a striking object that shares typography’s characteristic of disassembling and assembling, and it is also an interesting object that combines the stereoscopic form of the clock itself and flat text information such as numbers and scale marks. ‘Clocks’ presents typographic analysis and the mechanical properties of the clock—the numbers, letters and time on the face of the clock—through the view of various designers with the theme of the clock.

Corners:   many stories of objects and typography
A corner means a point where two surfaces intersect. A corner is an intersection where different things meet and also a point of change. Here, ‘corner’ means a periodic and experimental exhibition booth installed in an unused part of the gallery. Emerging designers who have attracted attention for their unique styles are divided into three main periods and participate in the exhibition in sequence to show various interpretations and experiments on ‘typography and object.’

Sundries:   Objects related to typography
From the signals on the street to the stationaries in the pencil case; there will always be letters in our life. In ‘Sundries', various objects such as old types, typography tools, letter-shaped furniture or toys, letter soaps, learning tools, games are collected and classified. ‘Sundries' presents the example of the most intuitive objects and typography, from daily objects to professional goods. Furthermore, the outcomes of the planning and production of new objects related to the theme are displayed.

Plants:   The object of circulation, the typography of circulation
The combination of letters become a word, words become a line of writing, and lines become a text. In ‘Plants', we are going to explore the circulation of typography in which a small piece links to the next. The composition leads to the more significant part, by juxtaposing with the circulation of nature resembling the flow of typography. This method can form a forest of different types that show a circulative scenery from the alphabets to the texts by collecting diverse types from different languages, centering on Hangul where the structure of circulation is prominent. We especially introduce ‘the Variable Font' that emerges as a new technique of type design.